The Third Place Essay (Second Language) from Yew Pei Juan in the “Early Spring, Mid-Summer” Essay Contest

Now is the time to trot out the winners of the KTLIT-Catch The Wave (Arirang) Essay Contest, beginning with Bronze Medal and working our way up to Gold.

The bronze medal winner for non-native English goes to Yew Pei Juan. Pei Juan’s essay came in at the very last minute, but I liked it. Anyone who says that literature is food for the soul, has begun on my right side. Here is Pei Juan’s essay:

For all this while, I have been browsing many language learning websites and Youtube to know more about Korean language, food, culture, scenery and so on. Korea is totally fascinating in many aspects! Until that, I watched few dramas which trigger my curiosity to get more insight into Korean literature.

The first one is Secret Garden. I really like the poems that appeared in the scenes. The poems add points to the story. When I was watching King2Hearts, I really wanted to know what happened to South Korea and North Korea in the past. Recently, I just finished Arang and the Magistrate. I was wondering about Korean old folk stories and myths, and I would like to compare them with my own country’s one.

I have been reading English, Malay and Chinese literatures before. Through the literatures, I get to know about the cultures and life of the society at that moment. Although we can also learn through documentaries, but literatures bring out the message in a story way which I can enjoy and remember it. Thus, by reading Korean literatures, I hope I would be able to get more insight into the cultures and history of the Korea nation. For me, literature is food for the soul!

I’m still a student and I’m not affordable to buy this book. Furthermore, there are limited sources of Korean books findable in Malaysia. It is really difficult to find a Korean reading book in book store except for the travel’s guide book to Korea.